Construction Crew - Holiday Gifts Galore - Brief Article

USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), Nov, 2001

If there's one constant in children's toys, it's construction sets. Kids just love to build things. To take advantage of this love affair, there is equipment galore out there, virtually enough to build an entire city.

Red hot is television's Bob the Builder and his crew of vehicles, which Hasbro, Inc., Pawtucket, R.I., has issued in a variety of forms to fit every youngster's desires. Bob and his friend and business partner Wendy come as 10-inch plush dolls ($9.99 each), ideal for cuddling. His buddies, Dizzy the cement mixer, Roley the steamroller, Lofty the crane, Muck the dump truck, and Scoop the steamshovel go for $9.99 apiece, and each speaks four phrases. For big-time work, the Electronic Talking Scoop ($29.99) utters 20 different lines from the show, including the signature punchline, "Can we fix it? Yes we can!," as he lifts his bucket aloft and does wheelies on his rear tires. Snap the accompanying Bob figure onto Scoop, and the two of them talk to each other. Bob's Electronic Building Yard ($29.99) teams Bob and Scoop again and sets them an assortment of repair tasks, such as patching the roof of Bob's office, fixing a rough section of road, and mending a broken pipe, while the house/office has plenty of doors, windows, and buttons that trigger all sorts of adventures, In short, it's more than enough to keep your little hard-hat busy for hours.

Playmobile USA Inc.. Dayton. N.J., unleashes an entire fleet of vehicles and crew members for its Building the Big Bridge collection, including a flatbed truck ($44.99) with a loading ramp for other construction equipment, a detachable cab, and flashing lights. The front-end loader ($34.99) has a shovel that lowers and tilts to move earth around the site, while the forklift ($23.99) swivels and picks up boxes and other material. Add in a working crew of hardhat, carpenter, and painter ($9.99) with an adjustable scaffold and all the tools of their trades, and all you have to do is wait for the whistle to start the day's job.

The Tyco R/C Driver s Seat ($44.99) from Mattel, Inc., Mount Laurel N.J., consists of a pair of radio-controlled construction vehicles--a dump truck and a front loader--each with a joystick controller to raise and lower the truck bed and bucket, respectively. With a little practice and a lot of batteries (vehicles take four C batteries, while the transmitter requires a nine-volt one), budding hardhats can zip all over the job site as the vehicles make realistic truck-like noises at a convincingly loud decibel level.

Finally, Elmo, Oscar, and Ernie go to work on the Sesame Street Radio Control Construction Set ($49.99) from Fisher-Price, Inc., East Aurora, N.Y. This 50-piece extravaganza features such goodies as a swinging wrecking ball, a bridge that swivels, and boulders that roll down a ramp to be loaded on a dump truck. Lots of tracks, signs, and equipment provide multiple play experiences, and an easy-to-use handheld remote control runs everything--lights, sounds, and the dump truck in its travels.